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Listen to the land, listen to one another. Slow down and reach into the uncomfortable spaces ignored for centuries. Touch the wounds in our hearts and the earth. Show up with courage. Set down dominion. Step with kindness. It’s not complicated, really. Just watch the dancers. Follow the circle.
–White Birch, Red Hawthorn: A Memoir by Nora Murphy
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I thought of a rhythm in my mind.
I heard the rhythm with my ears.
I looked at the rhythm with my eyes.
I smelled the rhythm with my nose.
I sang the rhythm with my mouth.
I caught the rhythm with my hands.
–I Got The Rhythm, written by Connie Schofield-Morrison and illustrated by Frank Morrison
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Jesse WildShoe died last night and today was the funeral and usually there’s a wake but none of us had the patience or energy to mourn for days so we buried Jesse right away and dug the hole deep because Jesse could fancydance like God had touched his feet. Anyhow we dug the hole all day and since the ground was still a little frozen we kept doing the kerosene trick and melting the ice and frost and when we threw a match into the bottom of the grave it looked like I suppose hell must look and it was scary. There we were ten little Indians making a hell on earth for a fancydancer who already had enough of that shit and probably wouldn’t want to have any more of it and I kept wondering if maybe we should just take his body high up in the mountains and bury him in the snow that never goes away. Maybe we just sort of freeze him so he doesn’t have to feel anything anymore and especially not some crazy ideas of heaven or hell.
–The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
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May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.
Carmelita Gopez Nuqui, The Philippines
“The problem was that the Philippines is a poor country, and trafficking provided a major source of income. With this understanding, Carmelita decided to think more creatively: instead of continuing to lobby Filipino officials, she approached the Japanese government, asking Japanese legislators directly how they could possibly need eighty thousand Filipino dancers and singers every year. The Japanese government also faced pressure from the international community to crack down on this form of modern-day slavery, and feared that the upcoming U.S. Trafficking in Persons report would highlight their antitrafficking shortcomings. Legislators were receptive to Carmelita’s outreach.“
–Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading Change Around the World by Alyse Nelson
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National Dance Week is April 24-May 3, 2015.
Profile of Sohini Chakraborty, India
“I am not teaching dance; I am inspiring dignity and self-respect.”
“Girls who are the victims of violence and sexual trafficking are extremely uncomfortable with their bodies,” Sohini explains. “They don’t feel physicality because they feel it is responsible for the stigma attached to them.”
“In the brothel, you have no control over your body,” she explains. “But when you dance, you are the one giving expression to your body. You are controller of your body, of your mind, of your expression. It’s freedom.”
–Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading Change Around the World by Alyse Nelson